All Aboard...

[Bridge Blade]

Sat watching the Soccer AM Showboat and the same players week in week out showing their skills and I'm thinking who in our current team and players gone by could earn a regular slot on this show?
Which players could turn a game on its head and get you off your seat with a bit of magic?
I suppose they're so called luxury players which you can't really afford too many of when your battling your way out of league one and although we've not seen quite enough of him I think Harry Chapman is the only player in our current team who is of that ilk?
As for ex players I'm not old enough to have seen TC strutting his stuff but I did remember me and my dad selling some sort of raffle tickets?? To buy the Welsh wizard Glyn Hodges.

 

[gavtheblade]

I reckon Duffy has some to show off.

 

[Stretch]

Agree about Chapman and also that Duffy looks to have a few tekkers about him.

Of recent players Flynn was also a bit handy in the skills/tricks department so was McMahon by all accounts. JCR had it in the locker as did, dare I say it Febien Brandy

 

[SwissBlade]

Chapman's 3rd v Leyton Orient was quality Tekkers... But he's no Bashambauer

 

[wizadry]

Bashambauer against Southampton is one that stands out to me but that was obviously a one off, still brilliant all the same.

 

[BushBlade]

Agree about Chapman and also that Duffy looks to have a few tekkers about him.

Of recent players Flynn was also a bit handy in the skills/tricks department so was McMahon by all accounts. JCR had it in the locker as did, dare I say it Febien Brandy

Murphy could go past players like they weren't there.

Coutts has an incredible first touch for a L1 player.

 

[Groucho Blade]

Paul Coutts

 

[blader]

Peter Ndlovu.

 

[Blade for Sale]

Bashambauer against Southampton is one that stands out to me but that was obviously a one off, still brilliant all the same.

Up there with Morgan's overhead kick v Forest in the 'rubbing one's eyes in disbelief' stakes!

 

[Stretch]

Murphy could go past players like they weren't there.

Coutts has an incredible first touch for a L1 player.

Can't believe I forgot Murphy!

And yes if we are talking about close control and technique then Coutts and Fleck actually are both good shouts.

 

[Ricky]

Chapman, hands down.

 

[wizadry]

Chapman, hands down.

That's what someone should've shouted to McEveley last season and JOC this season. Tekkers of the other nature.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Sat watching the Soccer AM

That's where I stopped reading.

 

[Bartyblade]

Fleck, for the way he becomes the matador against onrushing bovine opponents and becomes the piss-taker supreme!

 

[Silent Blade]

Alejandro Sabella

 

[Sheffsteel]

For anyone not old enough to remember.

Sabella was an ex Coca Cola boy, one of the Argentinian kids that used to do all the fancy keepy uppy ball skills tricks in the 70's

It might sound weird but I used to love his pre match warm ups.
His ball juggling was unbelievable, I was mesmerised, just like watching a magician.
I remember he used to be able to juggle the ball from one shoulder to the other shoulder with ease.
I'd never seen anyone be able to do that before.

Also in games you always kept a close eye on Sabella because we would do things you'd never seen before.
He would control the ball on his knee, do a few keepy uppies, look in one direction then back heel it to one of our players in the opposite direction. He seemed too good for the players around him and was on a different wave length most of the time.

Sabella's knickname was The Sloth in Argentina because he was so slow. However he had amazingly quick feet with a fantastic body swerve enabling him to be a fantastic dribbler. Imagine that? All famous dribblers (like Ryan Giggs) use speed and acceleration. Sabella had no speed but could stil dribble past players with ease.
Remember an Anglo Scottish cup match at home to Dundee. Sabella scored dribbling past 5 players.

People might think I'm exagerrating his skill level otherwise surely he'd have been a big world famous star like Maradona.

Well Sabella did have weaknesses. He was small and quite weak (not like Maradona who was as strong as an ox and had quick acceleration), Sabella was deliberatley targeted and became our most fouled player (You could get away with the rough stuff then without getting a booking).
He also didn't like playing on muddy pitches or in cold, windy and rainy conditions and could disappear from games if he wasn't in the mood.

 

[Gimli]

I remember Chris Morgan scoring a last minute equaliser against Swansea a few years back with a beautifully deft touch - probably not going to make the shortlist for this accolade though.

 

[JJ Sefton]

Franz Carr

 

[Silent Blade]

For anyone not old enough to remember.

Sabella was an ex Coca Cola boy, one of the Argentinian kids that used to do all the fancy keepy uppy ball skills tricks in the 70's

It might sound weird but I used to love his pre match warm ups.
His ball juggling was unbelievable, I was mesmerised, just like watching a magician.
I remember he used to be able to juggle the ball from one shoulder to the other shoulder with ease.
I'd never seen anyone be able to do that before.

Also in games you always kept a close eye on Sabella because we would do things you'd never seen before.
He would control the ball on his knee, do a few keepy uppies, look in one direction then back heel it to one of our players in the opposite direction. He seemed too good for the players around him and was on a different wave length most of the time.

Sabella's knickname was The Sloth in Argentina because he was so slow. However he had amazingly quick feet with a fantastic body swerve enabling him to be a fantastic dribbler. Imagine that? All famous dribblers (like Ryan Giggs) use speed and acceleration. Sabella had no speed but could stil dribble past players with ease.
Remember an Anglo Scottish cup match at home to Dundee. Sabella scored dribbling past 5 players.

People might think I'm exagerrating his skill level otherwise surely he'd have been a big world famous star like Maradona.

Well Sabella did have weaknesses. He was small and quite weak (not like Maradona who was as strong as an ox and had quick acceleration), Sabella was deliberatley targeted and became our most fouled player (You could get away with the rough stuff then without getting a booking).
He also didn't like playing on muddy pitches or in cold, windy and rainy conditions and could disappear from games if he wasn't in the mood.

He could chest the ball near the touchline, flick the ball up in the air from his thigh and then hit an overhead crossfield pass that landed perfectly for a teammate to receive it!

 

[Kenilworth]

Bob Booker

 

[Sheffsteel]

He could chest the ball near the touchline, flick the ball up in the air from his thigh and then hit an overhead crossfield pass that landed perfectly for a teammate to receive it!

Yes that's the kind of stuff I remember, exagerrated slightly but you're on the right track.

He was a player with tricks and little flicks
Totally alien to anything i'd seen in the last 70's.
Currie was just before I started going regularly, saw him play for us only twice.

 

[Silent Blade]

Bob Booker

Ha ha!

 

[Bridge Blade]

Ha ha!

Ooh ahh surely??

 

[davidblade]

He could chest the ball near the touchline, flick the ball up in the air from his thigh and then hit an overhead crossfield pass that landed perfectly for a teammate to receive it!

The trouble is that, the teammate could have been Barry Butlin, who couldn't trap a bag of cement.

 

[coaxingstar71]

I remember Deano showing amazing skill and balance in a cup replay v Charlton in 1992. Back to goal, he brought down a high ball near the touch line and did a cruyff-esque turn that took him past his marker in one fluid movement. This for a big man on a wet surface.

 

[DronnieBlade]

I remember Chris Morgan scoring a last minute equaliser against Swansea a few years back with a beautifully deft touch - probably not going to make the shortlist for this accolade though.

Was worth the near 500 mile round trip for that alone !!

UTB

 

[finlaytheblade]

There have been English players with similar skills but coaches didn't like kids keeping the ball and showing individual skill.Its changed now and kids are encouraged to learn these technics,we lost an entire generation though with them dinosaur coaches.
Encouraging skills is very important
long may it continue.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

Jose Baxter had a bit















...and that's why he's banned.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Alejandro Sabella

Who are we playing here? Sunderland?

 

[I should coco]

Peter Withe?

A bit limited to 'chest ups' though and didn't like using his legs.

IIRC he tried to score once with his chest from about 40 yard out.